Here are 8 photos of Route VA-288 under construction, taken in June, 2003.
Click the thumbnail photo for a larger photo (they range in size from 118 KB to
181 KB).

Route
288 construction, looking
south. The section of VA-288
from VA-76 Powhite Parkway to Lucks Lane, opened to traffic in November 2002.
Concrete paving is about to begin on the mainline roadways. The paved
roadways are C-D roadways.

The original plan when this section was let
as a standard VDOT project in 1999, was to first build the collecter-distributor
(C-D) roadways on VA-288 to serve the VA-76 interchange. These C-D roadways are
each over a mile long, and each is a 2-lane freeway standard roadway, and all
the ramps with VA-76 intersect the C-D roadways, and 3 of the 4 Lucks Lane
ramps intersect the C-D roadways. The C-D roadways would seamlessly
connect with the permanent mainline roadways to the south and north of there.
Mainline 2-lane roadways, one each way, would be constructed in the future in
the median between the C-D roadways, relegating the C-D roadways to their true
C-D purposes. Construction began in spring 1999 on the 2-mile-long section of
VA-288 between VA-76 Powhite Parkway and Charter Colony Parkway in
Chesterfield County. When the PPTA $236 million agreement was finalized in May 2001 to complete the remaining
11 miles of the 17.5-mile-long western section of VA-288 to full 4-lane freeway
standards, the PPTA project also included building the aforementioned mainline
VA-288 roadways between the C-D roadways in the VA-76 and Lucks Lane interchange area. Those
mainline roadways are being built now with continuously reinforced concrete paving about to start, and this construction
will complete the ultimate design of the interchange between VA-288, VA-76 and
Lucks Lane.
That construction, and all VA-288 construction, is scheduled to be completed by October 2003.

Route
288 construction, looking north, construction of VA-288, photo taken from
Lucks Lane in Chesterfield County, a few minutes after the previous photo.

Route
288 construction, looking south from the Charter Colony Parkway overpass over
VA-288. Visible in the distance, is the north end of the completed VA-288
section from VA-76 to north of Lucks Lane. The completed portion visible here
is north of Lucks Lane and is not yet open to traffic. This is in
Chesterfield County.

Route
288 construction, looking south from the Charter Colony Parkway overpass over
VA-288. This photo was taken from the same vantage point as the previous photo,
but it was taken with a 135mm (2.7x) telephoto lens, instead of the 50mm (1.0x)
regular lens used previously.

Looking north from where Charter Colony
Parkway crosses VA-288. Heavy grading is under construction for the
mainline of VA-288.

Looking
north from where Charter Colony Parkway crosses VA-288. Heavy grading is
under construction for the mainline of VA-288. This photo was taken from
the same vantage point as the previous photo, but it was taken with a
135mm (2.7x) telephoto lens, instead of the 50mm (1.0x) regular lens used
previously. The
interchange and overpass for Woolridge Road is under construction in the distance.

Looking east, on VA-6 Patterson Avenue in Goochland County. VA-6 is a 4-lane arterial which is
being reconstructed with a bridge over VA-288. A temporary 2-lane roadway
about 3/4 mile long is carrying the VA-6 traffic while the adjacent section
of VA-6 is being reconstructed. The temporary roadway is visible to the
right.

Looking west, on VA-6 Patterson Avenue, at the east end of the VA-6
reconstruction area discussed with the previous photo. The detour ahead is
negotiable at 45 mph, and the reason why it looks abrupt is because the
photo was taken with a 135mm (2.7x) telephoto lens. Placement of aggregate
base is near completion on the VA-6 connection, with asphalt paving about to
begin.